Art has the power to bridge the culture gap. Nowhere is that more important than in Charlotte classrooms, where two-thirds of Charlotte-Mecklenburg School’s students are minorities representing 160 countries around the globe. Moreover, research has demonstrated that teachers who’ve had personal multicultural experiences are likelier to have more positive attitudes toward teaching, leading to better classroom experiences overall.
For the second year, Assistant Professor of Education Adriana Medina has created a project for students in a graduate teacher education program to illuminate the unique circumstances of minority students and non-native English speakers in an educational environment. Through the “Paint Brushes and Dancing Shoes” project, Medina, with the help of Urban Education doctoral student Elkin Lenis-Sucerquia, enlisted Columbian-American artist Edwin Gil and Honduran dancer Luis Rivera to demonstrate how teachers can use art, dance and culture as means to engage students. Both Gil and Rivera are English language learners.
During the first phase of the project, Gil worked with teachers in his gallery. He then visited Monroe Middle School for two consecutive days. Through an interactive artistic process, he shared with UNC Charlotte students and middle school students his personal journey as a professional artist and social activist advocating for diversity, equality and inclusion nationally and internationally.
Gil’s work is currently on display at the school. Gil also participated in the 2011 project “Brushstrokes and Musical Notes”— photos and video from the project are available online.
For the final phase of the project, UNC Charlotte students convened at Monroe Middle School to learn and perform a dance taught by Rivera. Rivera will return to the school to work with middle school dance students.
The project was made possible with funding from the UNC Charlotte Chancellor’s Diversity Challenge Fund.